While I was looking for springtails, I rousted a bunch of other animals out of their cold-weather naps. There were slugs, of course; dozens of them. Sleepy sowbugs by the handful. And a few unexpected critters:
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| On the dry back of an old, crumbling planter box, this small spider was out hunting, still awake in spite of the below-zero weather. |
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She's another to identify. Ozyptila, a crab spider. Notice the interesting dotted lines on the sides of her thorax. |
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| It was hard to imagine this delicate creature wandering around in the cold. |
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| A lizard bark louse nymph, about 2mm. long, with undeveloped wings. The adult's will be longer than the body. I love the glassy legs. |
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| Here's one on the rotten wood of the bottom of the box. |
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| Blaniulus millipedes. Update: I forgot to add this: look for the tiny white critter at center left. I didn't see that until I was cropping the photo. |
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| These were sound asleep, but as soon as they warmed up a bit, they uncoiled themselves and started to explore. |
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| I have to add at least one sowbug. Check out the antennae; they look as if they're made of metal pipes! |
The cold snap has ended. It is now raining hard on top of the snow. The slugs will be waking up, hungry enough to eat the remains of my garden, in the morning.
It's always so nice to come here and look at your stunning photos. Thank you...I love the fragile-looking glassy legs, too!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
ReplyDeletewow, that was delightful. THANK you. =) Is that super super tiny white thing you discovered after the fact a teensy weevil? Quite the snout.
ReplyDeleteThis post is so great re: paying attention to the tiny things, going out when it's not gorgeous spring/summer and finding, appreciating, and learning about the myriad occupants of our collective space. =) Tipping my hat to you.
biobabbler; I think you're right. I couldn't figure it out, but that does look like a snout, and the body shape is right.
ReplyDeleteNow I'll be keeping my eyes out for weevils, too.